Circuit's One Shot Storys
by Circuit the Cat
Summary: a collection of one shots by Circuit the Cat, most of which tie into each other. more or less.
1. One Shot Story: Not The Same

For everyone else, Solaris had never happened. But for Silver it was a different story. His life couldn't just 'reset' the way everyone else's did because there was something very important missing from it.

Or should I say, someone. For whatever reason Blaze hadn't returned, in fact the exact opposite had happened. Somehow removing Iblis had also removed some key part of her past. He had never admitted how he really felt about her, and now it was as if she had never been there at all... if only he could forget the pain so easily...

Putting those thoughts behind him he got ready for the journey back. In a way, the others not remembering was a good thing though, because it meant Amy not remembering how he had almost killed Sonic... If only he could forget that as well... She had been a good friend and had been there when he really needed one. Now he wanted to return the favor, after all, she's only going to turn 20 once...

Another person he couldn't admit how he felt about until it was too late... Though technically it was already toolate the moment he was born. A relationship with her would mean disrupting the timeline, and every time that had happened it had been hell trying to clean up the mess...

Station Square, hundreds of years earlier,

Sonic waited outside the restaurant. Everyone was there except Silver, Shadow and Amy. Spotting the pale gray hedgehog running up, Sonic sighed. _Oh good. For a moment I thought he was going to be late._ It was Amy's birthday, and he and Shadow had gone to a lot of trouble to make this one nice, after the fiasco Eggman's latest attack had made of last year.

Leading him inside, Sonic quickly introduced him to the others. Most he had already met, but there were a few new faces. As Sonic named them off, Silver did a quick mental checklist making sure he had everyone right. _Cream, Wave, Jet, Storm, Rouge, Tails, Knuckles, Marine, Big, and... no... it can't be... _Silver's train of thought getting completely derailed as he spotted the last one.

"Blaze?" he asked confused before Sonic could even introduce her. "how is this possible..."

Looking at him confused, the lavender cat simply replied with a somewhat unnerving "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

Half his mind was celebrating the return of his long lost friend, while the other half was dumbfounded over the fact that someone who had been closer than family to him couldn't even remember who he was. This was like, eight different versions of screwed up... It was as if his dream and nightmare had come true at the same time. The universe must be laughing. First he had to lose her to save the world, then saving time erased her from this world, now she's returned but she's still beyond reach. Why?!

Silver wasn't snapped out of his thoughts until Amy showed up, and decided to sort this out afterwards.

Later, as the others were getting ready to leave, Cream mentioned there was a musical she liked playing at the local theater, and wanted to take Amy to see it. A few others decided to come along as well and they called a pair of cabs to come get them.

If there was a good time to speak to Blaze, this was it. As everybody was outside waiting.

"Um... Blaze..." he said, trying to figure out if there was a good way to ask this, "Does the name Iblis sound familiar to you?"

"Actually yes, it's part of one of my grandmother's stories... It's about my ancestor and a great fire demon... Gran used to say it was how the first of out family came to that world." She said, seeming somewhat surprised he would know that name.

"Really." Silver stated, surprised, _so this isn't the Blaze I knew, but she could be related._ "Would you mind telling me the rest of the story?" he asked, now somewhat curious.

The two walked over to the park as she spoke. It was an interesting tale, almost an exact match for the adventure he and Blaze had had after meeting Mephiles.

"And then the dark knight, twin of the sorcerer," _That's probably Shadow... _"opened a window to the past and revealed to the white knight the truth about the demon." _Yup. Shadow._ "Now knowing the truth the white knight returned to make amends to his former foe before returning to his own time. But though he vanquished the demon, only my ancestor could seal it. In doing so she was sent to our world, so that the demon could never reach hers again."

As she finished, Silver sat there, lost in thought for a moment before speaking. "Sorry, but your story needs a bit of work. Shadow and Mephiles aren't twins."

Confused for a moment, Blaze gave Silver a rather odd look. _Wait... Shadow and... does he mean the knight and sorcerer in the story? But that's just a story meant to..._ her train of thought stopped for a second, only know did she notice how Silver's fur looked almost white in the moonlight and shone like a knights armor... _or is it..._

"You're the white knight from the story aren't you? All of that really happened?" She asked, starting to understand. Much like her ancestor, this Blaze tended to hide her emotions. But silver knew 'her' too well to be fooled. He knew inside she was having a hard time swallowing any of this.

"More or less. The Blaze I knew helped me defeat and seal Iblis in this world's future, my time, after Shadow showed me that Mephiles was just using us to further his own goals. It's rather complicated how it happened, but in the end, Sonic was able to get rid of Iblis Mephiles and Solaris once and for all, Time was rewritten and everyone else forgot any of it had ever happened... But Blaze never came back." Silver explained, obvious sorrow in his voice.

This was a lot for both of them to take in, for Silver it meant that Blaze hadn't died, merely left. Transported to the past of another world, where she had lived out the rest of her life and been the first in a royal line... For Blaze it meant accepting that a whimsical story she had always dismissed as one of her grandmothers childish farytales was at least a partially accurate retelling of her family's real origin...

Looking over at him, and seeing the way he'd been watching her, "I look like her don't I?"

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were her." Silver said, with a smile.

But it wasn't meant to last. The others had already left, and Sonic had come over to see what was going on. The minute he said her name, Silver could see how her eyes lit up, even if the rest of her was still calm. And he knew as she waved goodbye following the blue blur towards the sunset, that things might never be the way he wanted, but at least he had his old friend back, and he knew she was happy where she was.


	2. Ashura Thing

**Author's note: Yeah, I know the title is a bad pun on 'a sure thing' so sue me. **

** Scourge is from the comics, while Ashura, technically, is from the games. Although not actually a cannon character, "Ashura" is the fan given name for an alternate sonic caused by a pallete glitch in Sonic 2. Most people seem to depict him as evil, but since he doesn't have a canon backstory, this is my version of him. Also, the second set of emeralds is a reference to the fact that Sega made them flat and square in 'Sonic 3D Blast' for some reason, as opposed to their usual hexagon shaped and pointed appearance.**

**- - - - - - - -**

The blue eyed hedgehog sped along, his jade quills blowing in the wind as he ran at supersonic speeds, searching for the green emerald. He was alone today, just like he was every day... He couldn't understand why the others didn't trust him. Aside from his appearance he wasn't too different from this world's Sonic. same shoes, the same style of quills, even the same breath of determination. Sure, sonic wasn't jade green, and this hedgehog had a black diamond stripe running from his eyes to the tip of his centre spike of quills, but what did that matter? So he looked a little different and wasn't one to play by the rules or fight fair, they were still on the same side. He'd even helped Sonic once back when it was just him and Tails. Not that he ever got credit for that, everyone always thought he was making it up.

No... he knew why. It had only been a glimpse, but Tails had see the old him in that fight...

_All it took was one gesture of kindness from Tails to help me remember who I am. but who I was will always haunt me..._

So today he just ran, blowing off some steam. He'd come here from a dying world, bringing his world's chaos emeralds so that Emperor Robotnik couldn't follow. They were square and thick. Their flat appearance in a way looked kind of like the Sol emeralds, but with a different cut to them that made them shine at strange angles. Not that anybody noticed THAT either, this world's Sonic had even used them once and still nobody else recognised that there was more than one set...

His aim had been to make sure this world didn't get ruined by Robotnik the way his had been, but it didn't look like they needed any help. For the most part he just felt useless, so, he ran.

Up ahead he spotted something, a ring growing to enormous size. "A warp-ring? Here?" The hedgehog asked himself, confused. Heading towards it to investigate.

"Come on, babe. It'll be fun!" a strange voice came from beyond it.

"It always is with you." A second said. Someone was about to step through. Within seconds a red fox and a rather mean looking green hedgehog emerged.

His appearance was rather imposing. Everything he wore was black leather save for his white gloves, and he had a pair of vertical scars going up his chest. Every tooth in his jaw was pointed like a fang, and dark sunglasses hid his eyes. His companion had a one-pice black leather outfit, a red hair ribbon, and black boots. he had never seen either of them before, but he could have sworn only Sonic and his friends knew how to use warp rings...

"Hey! Who are you?" He said in a somewhat gruff tone, trying to make himself seem as tough looking as the other green hedgehog in front of him. _They don't look friendly. Can't look weak._

Although the hedgehog hadn't been talking to her, the fox was the first to notice. Looking over, Fiona was a bit startled. Looking back and forth between Scourge and the other green hedgehog a few times the resemblance was uncanny. _Aside from this newcomer having a black stripe down his forehead and different clothes, they're almost identical! He HAS to be this world's Scourge._ Although Fiona didn't say anything, Scourge definitely did.

"Well. Not where I intended to go, but definitely an improvement." He said with a grin. He had intended to go home, but another world with what was obviously another him would work just as well.

"You could say, I'm you." Scourge half-growled, noticing the energy the gems his counterpart had on his belt were giving off. Dashing forward and snatching the red one, "And I'll be taking those."

"Like hell you are!" The other shouted, activating chaos control with one of the others and freezing both Fiona ans Scourge in place. Grabbing him by the quills, he slammed Scourge's head into the ground. Snatching the gem out of the air as it bounced up from Scourge's hand, time returned to normal.

_Ow... what a cheap shot... _Scourge thought, impressed by who he was now certain was his counterpart. "And here I was worried that you might be a wimp like Sonic." He said getting up, and launching at him.

The other just warped out of his way. "Look, I don't want to fight you. I can't let you slow me down. I still need to find the other three emeralds." He said, gesturing to the four square gems he had.

_Wait, what? Why isn't he fighting back? _Scourge asked himself confused, this other hedgehog had been the same as him a moment ago... Now he was holding back? He was acting almost like...

_...Sonic._

"_All it would take is a bit of selflessness... a little bit of decency... and you'd be just like me."_

_No. I won't accept that! _He mentally shouted at himself, refusing that answer. There had to be another reason. "You don't deserve the name Scourge..." He muttered.

"Scourge? Dunno who that is. Name's Ashura, or Sonic, but there's two of us with that name here so I don't use it." He said, before dashing off, resuming his search for the emerald.

As he disappeared into the distance, Scourge just watched his retreating back, answerless questions filling his mind.

-------------------

This world was so much like the other one, it was almost scary. All the major players were here save one. But there were subtle differences. Bunnie didn't seem to exist here, and there was a rabbit who Scourge didn't recognise hanging out with Amy... Most of the people who had been important figures in Knothole were nothing more than 'bit players' here. People with no part in Sonic and Tails' adventures, and many of whom didn't even know the duo personally. Most of them leading normal uninteresting lives, in a world populated mainly by, of all things, humans.

"This place is... weird." Scourge complained, perched on the rooftop of the building he'd just run up.

"Yeah," Fiona agreed, frowning. "Maybe if we find this world's 'real' Sonic we can get some answers... or at least beat the shit out of him."

A few days later,

"Hey, I remember now, you're Tails' friend. Fiona, right? The one from Westopolis?" The blue hedgehog said. He was wearing the uniform for some kind of delivery service.

_Ok, this was a mistake, not only do they apparently know this world's 'me', but this Sonic is exactly like the one I broke up with..._ The back corner of Fiona's mind screamed, telling her to leave while she still could, but the thought of messing with this other Fiona's life was just too tempting.

"Yup. That's me." She said, doing a pretty convincing fake of a cheerful smile.

"Tails will be thrilled when he hears you're in town. Where have you been for the past year? Nobody's heard from you since the Black Arms incident and Westopolis was one of the worst places hit..." He asked, confusion and concern in his words. He ran backwards at a pace slow enough that she could keep up.

"Would you belive I got arrested?" she said, trying to fake sounding embarrassed.

"Again? I thought you were past that..." Sonic said, sounding disappointed.

Bingo. Just the material she was looking for.

Later,

"Nothing of any importance. That Sonic is exactly like hero boy. Can't get information out of them because apparently they knew 'me'. You try." she said, back in their make-shift hideout. She had hoped that messing with Sonic and Tails would be fun, but somehow making the kid think his friend was alive, rather the oposite of what he had helped her become just made her feel... empty... It was too easy, and there was no real payoff. Now turning them against each other back home, THAT had been fun. Too bad she never got to see the grand finale.

"Gah... not sure I can play nice that long..." Scourge grumbled, as something on the streets below caught his eye.

Ashura. He seemed to be looking for something. Perhaps one of those strangely shaped emeralds he had...

"Him again..." he growled, eyes narrowing. Every part of him wanted to jump down there and beat the shit out of him, just for the sake random violence. _But why am I just standing here? Why wont I move? Why do I hesitate? _

His thoughts didn't hold him there long, and before he knew it he was racing down the side of the building towards the other green hedgehog. In the blink of an eye the two were fighting... and yet... despite using every cheap tactic and dirty trick he knew, the more he hurt this other fighter, the less he seemed to enjoy the fight...

Ashura leapt out of the way of his next strike, letting Scourge plow head first into the pavement.

"I let you off last time, and you come back for more? In the old days I would have enjoyed this..." Ashura muttered, wiping blood from his torn cheek with his already stained glove.

_The undertone in his voice... regret? But does he regret going soft or that he used to be like me? _

In an instant, Ashura had Scourge pinned against a wall. "For so long I tried to forget what I did back then. But you wont let me, you keep showing me the monster I used to be." Ashura spat the words, growling and staring his double in the eyes. The malice there was unmistakable, yet in an instant it softened.

"And yet... I can't hate you, only pitty. Right now you're cold, alone, fueled by anger and hatred... but all it takes is one act of kindness to change a life..." He whispered, to Scourge the words were like a poison. A conformation of his deepest fears...

With those words, Ashura simply let go of Scourge and walked away. Leaving him there, too caught in his own thoughts to even move...

"_All it would take..."_

_No. No no no. It's not true. It's not._

"_...a little bit of decency..."_

_No there Has to be another explanation..._

"_...just like me."_

_**I could NEVER be like you!!**_

_NEVER!_

_Never._

_never..._

"...never..." He whimpered weakly, as for the first time in his life, tears came to the cold-hearted hedgehog's eyes.

The once indomitable ruthlessness and steel-like will was gone, and all he felt was lost and broken.

From the rooftop Fiona merely scowled, and walked off in silence. The Scourge she had known, that she had fallen in love with, was gone...

Though, that Ashura fellow... The raw brutality in the way he fought, and how he was able to break Scourge so easily...

She couldn't help but admire him...

If only she knew that part of him she admired, the part Scourge had 'let out', was the very same part he had tried so hard to bury...


	3. Lightning Delivery

One Shot Story: Lightning Delivery

What? Just because he's a fox doesn't mean he gets free rent... he has to pay it somehow.

**- - - - - - - -**

**Authors note: the speed measurememnt being used is in km/h, not MPH for those of you in the US. Also, this contains references to events in my other stories.**

**Disclamer: I do not own these characters. If I did, it wouldn't be fanfiction. That goes for all my stories on this site.**

**- - - - - - - -**

It had taken Blaze a while to track down Sonic's adress, according to Amy he was almost never in his apartment.

That girl was starting to get a bit scary... it was the first time Blaze had come here on her own just to visit, but Amy seemed threatened by the fact that her reason for coming involved Sonic...

Last time she was here she had found out that Sonic's birthday was soon and she had brought something but it seemed he lived further away than she thought.

That was when the flyer caught her eye, it was attached to a public bulleten board.

"Lightning Delivery, Your package anywhere in the world in a day or less guaranteed." She read aloud, intrigued. This might just be the solution to her dilema. The logo looked a bit odd though... a stylized biplane leaving blue and yellow trails. Well it would at least be worth it to check it out...

Going to the adress the flyer had indicated, she found a shop out in front of a small private runway. On it parked just outside a small hangar was a blue plane, 'Tornado V' written on the side. Walking inside, a small bell rang as the door opened.

There wasn't anyone inside, or at least Blaze couldn't see anyone, but almost immediately after the bell rang a familiar voice shouted "Be right there!" from another room. Almost immediately Tails emerged from the door marked 'Employees only'.

"Oh, Hi Blaze! I didn't know you were in town." He said cheerfully, walking up wearing a blue teeshirt with the shop's logo on it. "If you're looking for Sonic, he's in the middle of a delivery. Should be back in an hour or two."

"Actually, I heard Sonic's birthday was coming up and..." she trailed off, still surprised to have even run into him. Showing Tails the small package, "I guess I don't need to have it delivered to his apartment after all."

"Yeah, it's tomorrow." Tails said, seeing the package he snapped his fingers and jokingly said "Darn. Lost a customer..."

"I didn't know you two worked at a delivery service." Blaze commented, looking around. It was actually quite a nice little shop.

"Actually I own it. It's a long story..." Tails said scratching the back of his head and trying his hardest not to sound like he was bragging.

"Well, it looks like a slow day, and it's a while until Sonic gets back..." Blaze said, curious.

"Heh okay. It started about a year and a half ago..."

- - - - - - - -

"Your kidding..." Tails whimpered, the property inspector from the Station Square Bank just shook his head. "I'm sorry Mr. Prower, but you owe almost $540,000 in unpaid property tax. I'm here to appraise the property and contents for foreclosure and possible resale." His words were like a knife.

How was I supposed to raise that kind of money? If I declared bankruptcy they might let me keep the plane as a 'tool of the trade' since I was technically a pilot... or I could try to raise the money and risk loosing everything... It was a hard decision.

Three days later I was standing outside Sonic's apartment, the Tornado in the parking lot in Cyclone Mech mode. As seemed to be the norm for days like today, it was just after sundown, and raining. Knocking on the door, an old friend appeared behind it when it opened. "Tails? What are you doing outside on this kind of night?"

"Um... The bank kind of took my workshop... can I stay here a few days?" I could only whimper meekly, I wasn't too sure how Sonic would respond. It wasn't a question of whether Sonic was the type to lend a hand, more that I wasn't sure he had room for another person.

"Aw man, Sure. Any time." Sonic said, amazed. Opening the door the rest of the way and grabbing a towel from a closet. He tossed it at me. "Here. Your fur's soaked..."

"Thanks." I said somewhat sheepishly, drying off then plunking down on the couch. Aside from one old book and a ring that seemed to be well looked after, most of the apartment was a mess. I had asked him about that book a few times before but all he would ever tell me was that 'reading it was a real adventure' and then laugh a bit as if he had just made a clever joke...

"So how'd this happen?" Sonic asked, siting down next to his old friend, a bit worried about him.

"Well, remember the incident with Chaos four years ago?" I asked, hoping he'd remember. "The archaeologist who kept making comments about my workshop must have filed something with the city council when he got back, because they've been charging me property tax since and I didn't know about it..." Tails explained, sounding quite depressed.

"Aw man! That's awful. If there's anything I can do to help..." Sonic said, trailing off when he saw the downtrodden shift in his friend's expression.

"They already took the workshop... and my tools..." I muttered, on the verge of tears. I didn't have the heart to tell him, but the backpack I was wearing contained almost everything I still owned... An old photo of my real parents a few spare sets of shoes...

A few days passed, and Sonic did everything he could to help me out. But most of what little money he had came came from odd jobs done for the other tenants in the building, and that wouldn't last long.

We needed a way to earn real money... Sonic was deep in thought when he poped into a small corner store to pick up a few things. He almost didn't hear the conversation.

"The customers are really starting to bug me. Always demanding I deliver stuff faster. What do they want from me? The truck can only do 110!" one man complained, while the other behind the counter ran his items across the scanner.

_People want speed? I can do speed._ Sonic thought, turning to look at the annoyed driver. One look at his outfit identified him as a courier for a local delivery service.

Sonic's face just lit up in a grin. This was it, this was the answer.

Dashing back to the apartment and immediately explaining his plan, the hunt for a place to set up shop started the next day.

- - - - - - - -

"Wait a second, I thought you said you two didn't have much money. How did you afford to buy a building? And what about the runway for your plane?" Blaze asked, confused. Interrupting the story. "And for that mater, if you weren't there, how do you know what happened with Sonic?"

Tails just laughed a bit, "Ok, so I was guessing as to what went through his head there, but he told me the rest. Besides Sonic is pretty easy to figure out if you know him as well as I do." The fox explained.

Before continuing he reached under the counter, and pulled out what Blaze could have sworn was the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Would you belive me if I said this was a copy?" Tails said with a grin.

"Not a chance. You're smart, but _nobody_ can duplicate a stone like that." Blaze insisted, arms crossed in front of her chest.

"True, but I can still make pretty convincing fakes." Tails said, holding up the real yellow emerald in the other hand. "Just don't let it touch a real one or it'll explode." He explained putting both away.

Blaze just stood there stunned. "When did you..."

"Ark incident. Before we met you. I made spares but forgot to bring them with me by accident." Tails explained. "Sonic still had both of them. Wish I'd found out sooner. Anyway, guess I can skip ahead a bit since you know what happens next..."

- - - - - - - -

"What do you mean you still have them?! Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded, upset. How could Sonic have just skipped over something so important?!

"Because by the time you came to me you'd already lost the workshop. 'Oh hey Tails, looks like you could have kept it if you came here first.' Seriously what good would that have done?" Sonic explained, digging the two gems out of a box.

"I guess you're right..." I mumbled. Thinking about it, it probably would have made how depressed I had been lately worse.

"I figure we sell one, keep the other around in case we need it and I can't find the real thing. Being able to slow time or teleport could come in handy." He said, finally finding the second one, wedged onto an old shoe with a worn out sole.

Well, old was probably the wrong term, those shoes could easily be the ones he had last month. Sonic was quite good at wearing out footwear. Bet the company who thought up having two-year guarantees on running shoes his size were kicking themselves right now.

It wasn't long before we had managed to find a buyer, and only a few days past that that the buyer got robbed blind. Any idiot could have guessed Rouge did it, but it didn't stop me from feeling bad or wondering how she found out about the stone. But we couldn't wory about that now, the only shop we had been able to find with access to a long enough stretch of unused road to make a runway was... well, a dump. Although it had been a small private airfield once, it hadn't seen use since probably WWII or earlier and had become an accumulation site for random litter and one or two homeless hiding out in one of the battered hangars.

"What a dump..." sonic grumbled, looking around at the state of disrepair the place was in. kicking a loose soup can across the floor of what looked more like the inside of a dumpster than a building of any sort. You wouldn't know it was the ATC for an airfield if it weren't for the rusted out radar display and CB radio placed next to a window overlooking the runway. And with how old they looked they were probably first-generation machines anyway. Useless.

This was going to take some work... a LOT of work.

"We're doomed." was all I could think of to say. It really felt like we were trying to do the impossible.

"We're not doomed. We can do this." sonic said, somewhat half-heartedly, trying to cheer me up. He was right though, it took six weeks, half a ton of paint and _Gyprock_, and repaving the runway, but we pulled it off somehow. Except for one little snag we hit near the end there...

"Sonic, we're out of money." I remember saying, having just spent the last of it to get the fence and paint job fo the airfield redone. When I had hired the guy, I had figured we still had more left, but I guess I forgot to budget for a certain _somebody's_ apetite.

We wound up having to rely on home-made flyers pinned to community bulletin boards, and some of our early customers didn't belive I was the owner because of my atire. So now I had to find money for uniforms too...

Most of it worked out though. Amy helped us out with the uniforms, though I think Sonic is still mad he had to take her on a date in exchange. After word got out, things started to go pretty well. I've even got a new workshop set up in the old hangar. Other than a few interesting deliveries, that's how we got here.

One of the funniest moments was watching Sonic try and explain to Knuckles why we had just air-dropped six years of undelivered mail on him. Apparently nobody at any post office knew where Floating Island was, or how to get there and a few of the other Echidnas had been trying to send letters for a while.

- - - - - - - -

As Tails finished his story, a door in the back room could be heard opening and shutting.

"Hey Tails, you'll never guess who I ran into on the way here!" Sonic called from the other room, walking in with a Red fox about his age behind him.

"No way... Fiona?" Tails sputtered, shocked.

As the two got reacquainted, Blaze pulled Sonic aside and showed him the gift.

"I guess it's a little early, but this is for you." She said with a shy smile.


End file.
